385. Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)
Meditations no. 347 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Responsibility to make good use of time.
For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. The householder sets out for the public square as the day is dawning. The streets are still deserted, with only a few roosters waiting for the imminent sunrise. The owner of the vineyard needs labourers who can work from the very first hour, and get through a lot of work, for the harvest is plentiful. In the public square, he finds only a handful of people waiting for work. A greeting, a brief exchange, and a deal is struck. Then the labourers set out for the vineyard.
Two hours later, the whole town is astir. The public square is crowded, and the group of men waiting to be hired is almost lost in the crowd. The owner of the vineyard finds them and sends them to his fields, for the work is still pressing. But even these arenât enough. The harvest is so great that he goes back to the square at the sixth, ninth and even the eleventh hour - five in the afternoon - to hire more workers.
The Churchâs vineyard is so large that there is always work to be done: there is always the need to prune, fertilize, fight disease, harvest grapes, press them for wine. We should never have time on our hands, not even a second - and I am not exaggerating, our Father emphasized. There is work to be done. The world is a big place and there are millions of souls who have not yet heard the doctrine of Christ in all its clarity. I am addressing each one of you individually. If you have time on your hands, think again a little. Itâs quite likely that you have become lukewarm; that, supernaturally speaking, you have become a cripple. You are not moving, you are at a standstill. You are barren, you are not doing all the good you should be doing to the people around you, in your environment, in your work and in your family.
We have to make the best use of time, squeezing out the minutes God has granted us, fulfilling his designs to the utmost: this is the first lesson from the parable of the vineyard. Our daily examination should consistently focus on this point. The supernatural effectiveness of our life is closely linked to our generous use, day after day, hour after hour, of the treasure of time God gives us.
Generous self-giving to serve God and souls.
And when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, âCall the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.â
When they received their wages, the workers from the first hour grumbled at the householder, saying, âThese last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.â Their reaction suggests they were thinking too much about themselves, about their own rights and efforts, and so afterwards they felt they hadnât been rewarded sufficiently. They were calculating in their work, and spoke about putting up with the dayâs heat as a heavy burden. They were unhappy that they had worked so much. They lacked generosity and were selfish.
Most people who have personal problems, our Father would say, have them because they selfishly think too much about themselves. Give yourselves, give yourselves, give yourselves! Give yourselves to the others, serve the others out of love for God: that is the way. It is so effective that God rewards it with a humility filled with joy.
We need to be convinced that the best use we can make of our lives is to surpass ourselves in fulfilling our duties, serving God and souls. And we strive to do so without keeping a record of everything God has asked of us, or yearning for things left behind, or seeking compensations. The chance to work for God is an immense divine gift for which we should be eternally grateful.
God in his great mercy, and without any merit on our part, has entrusted to us a choice portion of his vineyard for working with souls, and he has promised us heaven. There is no proportion between what we can offer God and the gifts he constantly bestows on us. St Thomas says: A man can never love God as much as he deserves to be loved. Whatever we do will always be little. Therefore, In carrying out their work, the children of God in his Opus Dei try not merely to fulfil, but to love, which always means surpassing themselves gladly in duty and sacrifice.
When we agree to work in our Lordâs vineyard, we should be happy to be there and spend ourselves cheerfully, doing all we can to bring forth rich bunches of grapes. And if we finish the task in hand, those alongside us are always in need of our help. Alter alterius onera portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi; bear one anotherâs burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ. Time wasted⌠time on your hands⌠When so many of your brothers are weighed down by work! With gentle tact and a smile on your lips, help them without their noticing it, without their even being able to thank you, since your charity is cloaked over by discretion.
God will bless our work when we sacrifice ourselves gladly in his vineyard, redimentes tempus, making the most of our time, which is worth not gold, but glory.
Sincere examination to use our time better.
In one of his homilies, our Father commented on several parables, including that of the workers in the vineyard. Let us take a good honest look at our own lives. How is it that sometimes we just canât find those few minutes it would take to finish lovingly the work we have to do, which is the very means of our sanctification? Why do we neglect our family duties? Why that tendency to rush through our prayers, or through the holy Sacrifice of the Mass? How are we so lacking in calm and serenity when it comes to fulfilling the duties of our state, and yet so unhurried as we indulge in our own whims? You might say these are trifling matters. Youâre right, they are, but these trifles are the oil, the fuel we need to keep our flame alive and our light shiningâŚ
When a Christian kills time on this earth, he is putting himself in danger of killing heaven for himself, that is, if through selfishness, he backs out of things and hides away and doesnât care. A person who loves God, not only hands over to the service of Christ what he has and what he is in life. He give his very self. He is not small-minded. He does not see himself in his health, in his good name, or in his career.
Mine, mine, mine, is the way many people think and talk and act. How unpleasant an attitude this is! St Jerome comments that truly the words of Scripture, âto seek excuses for sinsâ, are fulfilled by those people who, apart from having the sin of pride, are also lazy and careless.
It is pride that constantly makes people think: mine, mine, mine. It is a vice that makes men ineffective and fruitless. It destroys their keenness to work for God, and leads them to waste their time. As for you, donât lose your effectiveness; instead, trample on your selfishness. You think your life is for yourself? Your life is for God, for the good of all men, through your love for our Lord. Your buried talent, dig it up again! Make it yield, and you will taste the joy of knowing that in this supernatural business it does not matter if in this world the results are not wonders that men can admire. What really matters is to hand over all that we are and all that we have.
Our Lord has given us as a present our very lives, our senses, our faculties, and countless graces. We have no right to forget that each of us is a worker, one among many, on this plantation where he has placed us to cooperate in the task of providing food for others. This is our place, here within the boundaries of this plantation. Here is where we have to toil away each day with Jesus, helping him in his work of redemption.
Allow me to insist. You think your time is for yourself? Your time is for God! It may well be that, by Godâs mercy, such selfish thoughts have never entered into your mind. Iâm telling you these things in case you ever find your heart wavering in its faith in Christ. Should that happen, I ask you - God asks you - to be true to your commitments, to conquer your pride, to control your imagination, not to be superficial and run away, not to desert.
The workers in the marketplace had all day to spare. The one who buried his talent wanted to kill the passing hours. The one who should have been looking after the vineyard went off elsewhere. They all prove insensitive to the great task the Master has entrusted to each and every Christian, that of seeing ourselves as his instruments, and acting accordingly, so that we may co-redeem with him, and of offering up our entire lives in the joyful sacrifice of surrendering ourselves for the good of souls.
As we finish our prayer today, we place in our Motherâs hands the resolution to âsqueeze outâ the remaining days of our life in her Sonâs service, and not hold anything back.